“Transforming the Future. Anticipation in the 21st Century” constitutes the first event organized by the recently approved UNESCO Chair on Sociocultural Anticipation and Resilience based at SARAS Institute. This activity will include a presentation by Riel Miller (leader of UNESCO’s Global Project on Futures Literacy and the Discipline of Anticipation) on his official visit to Uruguay as the Head of Futures Literacy at UNESCO.

What is the relevance of adopting the topic of “using the future” in the current context?

In a context of permanent novelty creation, surprises and unexpected events, different capacities and competences to give sense to “the emergent” are needed when trying to distinguish between change and permanence, and to better inform decision-making in relation to a diversity of complex issues that we, as society, are facing. The potential alternatives that are possible to be seen in the present go hand in hand with how we may imagine the future. That is why, for the program on futures literacy, it is crucial to “open” possibilities to different futures by discovering and creating new options in the present.

Within this frame, the event organized by SARAS seeks to introduce this topic in the local context by presenting the recently approved UNESCO Chair and a newly launched book co-edited by UNESCO and Routledge, entitled: “Transforming the Future: Anticipation in 21st Century”.
(To download the book, please click here)

This event is being organized by the Futures Laboratory at SARAS, an initiative led by Lydia Garrido, responsible for the UNESCO Chair on Sociocultural Anticipation and Resilience.

Preliminary Agenda
15:00 to 15:30 hs.- Even opening by SARAS Institute.
15:30 to 16:00 hs.- Presentation delivered by Riel Miller: UNESCO’s Futures Literacy approach and book presentation: “Transforming the Future: Anticipation in 21st Century”
16:00 to 16:30 hs.- Presentation by Lydia Garrido: UNESCO Chair on Sociocultural Anticipation and Resilience.
16:30 to 17:00 hs. – Q&A and exchanges with the public

Date: Friday, October 26th, 2018
Time: 3:00 pm
Venue: Executive Tower Events Room (South), 1324 Liniers (lower ground, also accessible from 710 Plaza Independencia) – Montevideo
Open to the general public.
This activity is free of charge but requires online registration by filling the form available here.
The room has limited capacity, so we advise early registration to secure a spot.
Presentations will be delivered in English and Spanish. (Simultaneous interpretation will be available)
Organized by: Futures Laboratory, SARAS Institute

Riel Miller is the leader of the Futures Literacy Project, at UNESCO Paris, which is oriented towards the strengthening and creation of anticipation capacities and competencies. With over 30 years of experience in the theory and practice of using the future to improve management and decision-making, he constitutes one of the pioneers in the field of Futures Literacy and the Discipline of Anticipation with a cutting-edge theoretical, methodological and practical approach within the field of Future Studies. Miller holds an MA from the Department of Social and Political Thought (York University, Toronto) and a PhD from the Department of Economics, New School for Social Research – New York. Between 1982 and 2004, he worked as an advisor and rapporteur for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in matters related to education policy, economics and research as well as the International Futures Program (OECD, International Foresight Program). He is a professor, researcher and international consultant who has been extensively published in academic journals and other media on a wide variety of topics, especially related to the future of education and internet, productivity and leadership transformation, innovation and creativity, complexity and uncertainty. He is the editor and co-author of UNESCO-Routledge’s recently published book: “Transforming the Future: Anticipation in 21st Century”.